The facination with Tubs???

Oh I agree with both Joanna and Gloryhound. A tub can be a great quarantine enclosure (that's how I use the ones I have) or "for now" enclosure while you get the final one tweaked in properly.
Tubs have their uses. I just think they aren't the best permanent housing unless you have the insulation and support structure of the rack as well. Even then, I don't like how short rack tubs are. :)

And I do intend to have vinyl flooring in my display cages to keep cleaning easier as well as to cover the flexwatt so it doesn't have to heat through wood.

With only a few snakes, tubs are not always the best way to go. Tanks though, are made for fish and NOT reptiles. If you don't want to go with tubs, building a display cage or purchasing a premade one is a much better idea than using a tank.

I have two tanks now that I will end up not using once I purchase pre-made cages for the animals. I find them much more secure, easier to heat and maintain humidity and they look nice (and stack, for when you have a few animals and need the space).

I'll still have my tubs for the ball pythons, though. I have had quite a few that just do better when in tubs than anything that is open or exposed.

I have 6 snakes in various places on my floor in my apartment, 4 Ball Pythons, 1 Sumatran Short Tail female, and 1 8ft female boa. Everyone except for the boa is in 32qt tubs with either bungee cords, suitcase straps, or in the black blood's case, a tied Science Diet leash :) To me, I could care less if they look tacky on my floor. Because honestly, if the snakes are thriving, eating, shedding completely, breeding, defecating/urinating, and doing everything they should be doing on a regular basis, then who cares what the enclosures look like.

I also have the rest of the Ball Pythons in rack systems, either 6qt, 15qt, 32qt or 41qt, and they are doing exactly the same. Eating, thriving, breeding, shedding, defecating/urinating, etc etc. If they weren't, then I would change their housing.

To me, display cages are for animals who are actually out during the day(sleeping or not). Beardies, Uros, Green Tree Pythons/Emerald Tree Boas(any tree boas), corn snakes, active diurnal snakes/lizards/etc that will actually be seen.. I don't want a display cage that has a "pet hide" or a "pet water dish" inside.. There's no point.. Not to mention glass enclosures are awful, they are fragile, heavy, expensive to buy/setup/maintain. Glass is a HORRIBLE insulator, and you'll spend so much money on electricity trying to heat the thing, it's just futile. The glass will always try to be the temperature of the room. It's just how it is..

Plastic now.. Plastic is a great insulator as well as being a fairly decent heat conductor. Plastic tubs are also readily available in about any size you want, they come with lids(GASP!) unlike most tanks, they have tons of floor space and not much height(the good ones) which is easy to heat. When I'm setting up a tub, all I do is get the soldering iron out(a cheapy $3 one ONLY for this purpose) and melt a few holes along the sides. I then set it up with heat and a thermostat depending on what size tub it is, I add newspaper, a waterbowl and a hide, and I find a bungee cord or something similar to hold the middle of the lid down. Put the thermometer probe under the hide and you're good to go. Let it heat up for 15 minutes or so and that's it. Add snake. No tweaking, no buying $200 worth of equipment to actually get temps and humidity where they should be, no covering the sides to make the snake feel less exposed, no soppy substrate to raise humidity which can cause belly rot and just a sesspool of bacteria if not completely cleaned out each and every time the snake eliminates.

For me, it takes about an hour or 2 to clean over 40 tubs, even Sonja the boa's big VE-175 tub. If I had to clean that many tanks, I would be cleaning for more hours than I have in the day. It's just not feasible for someone who wants to have a life, or a job :)

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

I have 6 snakes in various places on my floor in my apartment, 4 Ball Pythons, 1 Sumatran Short Tail female, and 1 8ft female boa. Everyone except for the boa is in 32qt tubs with either bungee cords, suitcase straps, or in the black blood's case, a tied Science Diet leash :) To me, I could care less if they look tacky on my floor. Because honestly, if the snakes are thriving, eating, shedding completely, breeding, defecating/urinating, and doing everything they should be doing on a regular basis, then who cares what the enclosures look like.

I also have the rest of the Ball Pythons in rack systems, either 6qt, 15qt, 32qt or 41qt, and they are doing exactly the same. Eating, thriving, breeding, shedding, defecating/urinating, etc etc. If they weren't, then I would change their housing.

To me, display cages are for animals who are actually out during the day(sleeping or not). Beardies, Uros, Green Tree Pythons/Emerald Tree Boas(any tree boas), corn snakes, active diurnal snakes/lizards/etc that will actually be seen.. I don't want a display cage that has a "pet hide" or a "pet water dish" inside.. There's no point.. Not to mention glass enclosures are awful, they are fragile, heavy, expensive to buy/setup/maintain. Glass is a HORRIBLE insulator, and you'll spend so much money on electricity trying to heat the thing, it's just futile. The glass will always try to be the temperature of the room. It's just how it is..

Plastic now.. Plastic is a great insulator as well as being a fairly decent heat conductor. Plastic tubs are also readily available in about any size you want, they come with lids(GASP!) unlike most tanks, they have tons of floor space and not much height(the good ones) which is easy to heat. When I'm setting up a tub, all I do is get the soldering iron out(a cheapy $3 one ONLY for this purpose) and melt a few holes along the sides. I then set it up with heat and a thermostat depending on what size tub it is, I add newspaper, a waterbowl and a hide, and I find a bungee cord or something similar to hold the middle of the lid down. Put the thermometer probe under the hide and you're good to go. Let it heat up for 15 minutes or so and that's it. Add snake. No tweaking, no buying $200 worth of equipment to actually get temps and humidity where they should be, no covering the sides to make the snake feel less exposed, no soppy substrate to raise humidity which can cause belly rot and just a sesspool of bacteria if not completely cleaned out each and every time the snake eliminates.

For me, it takes about an hour or 2 to clean over 40 tubs, even Sonja the boa's big VE-175 tub. If I had to clean that many tanks, I would be cleaning for more hours than I have in the day. It's just not feasible for someone who wants to have a life, or a job :)

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Excellent post! Couldn't agree more on every point you made!

About a month ago I switched my BP from a tank to a tub. I used to wonder the same thing about tubs, since they're so ugly and tanks really showcase the animal. However, all I was showcasing was a snake stuffed into a hide, like SatanicIntention said. Plus, I was using heat lamps which were making her miserable. She used to get eye dents all the time and never came out to explore, even at night on feeding day. Now she is much happier and healthier with the tub. For me, I can't afford a nice custom display tank, so tubs are the best and healthiest option for my snakes.

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Originally Posted by Entropy

I started using tubs waaaaay back when I just had two snakes. They fed better, they shed better, the temps were much easier to keep stable, they were easier to clean and no problems at all with them.

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I second that. I had BP's in display tanks and BP's in tubs. The tubs allowed me to keep husbandry requirements on the button, whereas with the display tanks there was way too much variation. I have IRIS tubs so they are very transparent, and they have no grooves in the bottom which makes cleaning very easy. You can get a 4 slot for $240 from Rich at Reptile basics shipped, that's $60 per enclosure. The tubs from Rich have a little peg you put in to be sure 100% they are closed, I can't tell you how long I fiddled with clamps on display tanks.

Not to mention, my BP's in the display tanks would try and climb up the sides, overextend, and then fall over with a thud. Doesn't sound bad, but they would do that a couple hundred times a night. I'm glad I learned all I did from tanks, but I'm tubs 100%

JonV

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Originally Posted by Argentra

I like giving my snakes space to roam with some head room, and 6" is not enough IMO.

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The question that I have is do the snakes want the head space and space to roam? Mine seem to love to just hide in the corner, under a hide box, or under the liners. I beleive that they love the tubs, becasue they are tight and dark. IMO. :cool:

Well, it's like I've said many times: Every snake is different.
My pet keeping luck always gives me the oddball animals. You know, the ones that defy the 'normal' ways of their species. As such, both my BPs love to roam up a bit as well as along the floor. Also, my female normal was in a tub for about 2-3 months and absolutely hated it. She wouldn't cruise and she wouldn't eat. I recently moved her back into her tank and she's a happy girl again.
The way I see it, you have to do whatever works for your particular snake. Often, when a newbie's snake isn't doing well in a tub, they think they're doing something wrong when it may just be that the snake doesn't like their home. I like to make it clear to others, especially first time snake owners, that they have multiple choices when it comes to housing.

As for the rack thing... RBI is great but I can't afford $200+ for a 4 tub rack where the tubs aren't the height I like anyway. I have two of my corns in 26x15x10 tubs now and just don't like them...alone or in a rack.
In fact, I dislike stand alone tubs so much I just went out and spent $98($100 was all I could spend) on the materials for 4 stacking 30x16x12 display cages for my corn snakes. I'll be sure to take pictures of the construction and finished products. :)

I switched to tubs back when I had one snake and I never looked back. Easier to clean - FAR easier to clean, a snake that fasted for 8 months started to feed within 2 weeks (kicked myself for not changing sooner), and visibly relaxed in a tub.

If I want to look at my snakes, I take them out - I know that they like the burrow effect of a lower ceiling enclosure, which makes tubs the perfect enclosure, IMHO.

I've also taken in several ball pythons that were surrendered to my local pet store or through Craigslist that were reportedly not eating for their previous owners and were all kept in glass enclosures that were too big for them. Within 2 weeks of being set up in tubs have eaten for me each week with no fasting.

I have no trouble keeping proper temps (I have 11 free standing tubs as well as a rack for the others), and I keep my apartment pretty cool year round.

It cost me far more money modifying the tank to keep temps and humidity correct than it ever has for a tub. My snakes are thriving, eating, defecating, breeding - they're happy so I'm happy! :D

I figured that I would chime in. I had kept my snakes in glass tanks for years, before we built our rack. I had my adult female in a 40-g low long breeder tank, with a screen lid.. and my others were in 30g and 20g tanks.. I also used a 10g tank for a time. But the big thing is, that my room was heated around them. I could never let my snake room get below the lowest temperature that I wanted for the snakes in their tanks. As long as this rule was kept, I guess that things would be fine. Sure, this was no big deal, as it still holds true for my tubbed snakes now. But.. I always had to wrap saran wrap over their screen lids for humidity retention, as the heating element I used (space heater) made the room Uber Dry. (danged thing still does! But it's just in our bedroom, with no snakes, and just gives me horrific bloody noses overnight if I forget to fill the humidifier..) So the animals being harmed are just me and my husband; nothing important ;)
Now, I use a rack; homemade out of melamine, with 41-quart tubs (smaller ones in the top shelf that hold a juvi and small adult male.) I have a gas fireplace in their room, which keeps the temps stable outside if for some reason we turn down the central heat of the house. It dries out the air negligibly, so if I had tanks, it'd be a rip to keep the humidity up especially when I jack it up in shed times. The tubs retain it very well..
But the biggest draw for them, to me, is the ease of lifting for cleaning. Granted, I am not a lightweight; I have a farm-girl giant-calves body. But lifting is not my thing. Lifting tanks to completely sanitize them would kill my back. Lifting tubs is simple.
Now, I am not saying that something is right for me because it is easy; that would be omitting out the health of the animal contained within. I like the tubs because of their opaque nature; the snakes don't need to be gawked at by my cat walking around all day :) I do have my BCI living in a display-type setup with glass walls and a sliding front door; it is a rip to clean!
I think that the main thing is to do what works for you, consistently and with right-n results for temperature, humidity, and space. I won't slam anyone for using tanks, or homemade display showcases, as long as the animal is not being overstressed by passers-by and glass tappers (this could happen in tubs anyway..)